


Past Pattern and into Habit

by notbrianna



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Morning After
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 16:52:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notbrianna/pseuds/notbrianna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noatak woke up in Lieu's bed (yet again) and resolves to have a conversation with him about what that means.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Past Pattern and into Habit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pan_ismyhomeboy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pan_ismyhomeboy/gifts).



Noatak was naked, to begin with. This he knew because he would like to think that he knows his body well enough to know when it is and isn’t. He also knew that he was in a bed and that he wasn’t the only person there, but that had less to do with knowing his body and more to do with his senses kicking in. He didn’t need to look at the person that he was half on top of to know that it was Lieu, which again had nothing to do with knowing his body and more to do with the fact that it was only ever Lieu he woke up with. Naked or otherwise.

He rolled out of the bed, careful not to wake Lieu and made his way to the bathroom to take a shower and get his day started. While he was showering he thought about what he was going to say to Lieu about their situation—because there was a situation and they did need to talk about it. Lieu was still asleep when Noatak got out of the shower so he wrote a note saying that they needed to talk on what he hoped was scrap paper and left for class.

***

After a long day of learning how to write like a professional and dealing with the library shenanigans of his fellow students (putting the religion and spirituality books in the fiction section had stopped being funny or clever a very long time ago) and made his way to Lieu’s dorm room. It was always Lieu’s room with its quiet and its delicious food and its...Lieu.

Noatak knocked twice on the door.  
“Come in.”  
Noatak opened the door to find Lieu sitting at his desk in a straight-backed chair. His crutches were leaning against the desk in what Lieu thought was the perfect position to not fall over while not taking up valuable desk space. At the moment, Lieu was slumped over his desk trying to rub a knot out of his back.

“Here,” Noatak said, walking over to the desk, “let me help you with that.”  
“Thanks,” Lieu said, letting him. They stayed like that for a while, Noatak rubbing knot after knot out of Lieu’s back and Lieu grunting with pleasure. “So,” Lieu said once he was satisfied that his back was knot-free. “What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”  
“I, um, I, ah, I want to talk about us.” Noatak said, sitting on the bed.  
“What about us?”  
“Is there an us?”  
“I, um, where is this coming from?”  
“I woke up in your bed this morning.”  
“Okaaaaay,” Lieu said, nodding.  
“You were there, too,” Noatak said hoping that would steer the conversation in a productive direction.  
“It’s my bed. It makes sense that I would have been there.”  
“That’s not what I mean and you know it,” Noatak said, running a hand through his hair. “I, um, we, ah,” he took a deep breath. “We were naked.”  
“Okay,” Lieu said.  
“And I, um, I was, I um…what does it mean?”  
“I don’t know.”  
“I mean it has to mean something. Right?” Lieu just sat there, silent.  
“I mean,” Noatak started, “I haven’t been counting or anything, but I pretty sure we’ve gone past coincidence and pattern and gone straight into…something.”  
“Okay,” Lieu said, nodding. “So, um, I guess we should try to reverse engineer what happened last night.”  
“Lieu,” Noatak said, “It’s a drunken encounter, not a Satomobile.”  
“I know, I know,” Lieu said. “But I still think we can figure out want we should do based on what we did do.”  
“Okay.”  
“You came over last night,” Lieu said.  
“Yeah…” Noatak said.  
“We hung out, we drank too much, and we had sex. Does that sound about right?”  
“Yeah.”  
“And then this morning you woke up here, left a note saying that you wanted to talk later (and to please be sober), and then you went about your day.”  
“Where are you going with all this?” Noatak asked, frustrated.  
“Did you get to all your classes on time?” Lieu asked abruptly.  
“Yeah.”  
“Even the10:00 one?”  
“Yeah, so?”  
“How did you know when to wake up?” Lieu asked.  
“The alarm went off,” Noatak answered.  
“Did I get up too?”  
“No? You didn’t need to?”  
“Mm hm. Hey, Noatak?”  
“Yeah?”  
“Why would I set my alarm to wake me up three hours before class?”  
“Um…”  
“And that piece of paper you wrote your note on?”  
“That wasn’t scrap paper, was it?” Noatak asked.  
“It was a grocery list,” Lieu said. “Well, actually, it was note reminding me to get you some seaprunes.”   
“Oh, thank you,” Noatak said. “So, um, do you think we have enough information to figure out what, um, our, ah… what’s going on with…us?”  
“You come over all the time, you know my schedule, I buy your favorite foods, and you just gave me a back massage.”  
“Oh man,” Noatak said. “We’re a couple.”  
“The facts do point that way, yes,” Lieu said nodding.  
“So, now what?” Noatak asked.  
“I don’t know. I mean,” Lieu said. “Do you want to be a couple? With me, I mean.”  
“I, um, I, ah, hadn’t thought about that part,” Noatak admitted. “How about you,” he asked. “Would you want to? Be a couple with me, I mean.”  
“I…wouldn’t be opposed.”  
“So, I guess it’s on me then, huh? Unless you think you can reverse-engineer that too.”  
They stared at each other for a moment, neither one of them saying anything, then Lieu smacked his thighs twice. “Come here,” he said.  
“You want me to sit on your lap?” Noatak asked.  
“No, I want you to sit on Tarrlok’s lap.”  
“I don’t want to sit on Tarrlok’s lap,” Noatak said positioning himself sidesaddle on Lieu’s lap.  
“This isn’t so bad,” Lieu asked, wrapping his arms around Noatak “Now is it?”  
“So this is your brilliant plan?” Noatak asked as he leaned into Lieu. “We sit on each other’s laps and then what? If like it we what? We say that we’re dating now?”  
“I guess?”  
“Well that’s not very romantic.”  
“No, I guess not. So, um, what should we do?”  
“Well, the people in romances that my mom likes usually kiss right around now.”  
“Oh. Um. Okay.”


End file.
